The streaming platform DAZN is bidding to show every single EFL match live in the UK and across the world in a move that would lead to the Saturday 3pm blackout being ditched.
If successful – and there is strong competition from rivals – it would mean that all 1,656 matches a season across the Championship, League One and League Two would be screened live. Most of them would remain on Saturdays so the EFL would need to drop the blackout.
That would mean a huge change in how English football is shown on TV. Unlike most European countries, not every match in the Premier League is made available to be watched by domestic viewers and no games can be screened on Saturday afternoons.
Under existing deals, the Premier League makes 200 matches available to three domestic broadcasters a season, and the EFL 138 games plus the play-offs to Sky Sports.
The DAZN proposal will be a big decision for the EFL board members, who will have to balance extra income against the possibility of clubs losing matchday income, particularly from travelling fans.
DAZN is understood to be competing against Sky Sports, the rights holders since 2002, as well as the Nordic streaming giant Viaplay – which has just started showing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland’s Euro qualifiers – for the next set of broadcast rights from 2024.
Other broadcasters are also considering bidding, with the EFL open to a hybrid option where more than one platform shows matches, including possibly a terrestrial broadcaster. The auction is expected to conclude this summer.
DAZN would be open to sharing some games but wants to position itself as the place to go to see every EFL match for fans both in the UK and abroad, similar to the deal last month when it secured the global rights outside the US to every NFL match.
It believes it can handle the huge logistical demands, including having four cameras and a commentator covering every game.
The EFL rights are traditionally sold in four-year blocks but DAZN would want at least five years and preferably more.
The Sky deal is worth £119 million a year but the EFL is aiming to secure more than £200 million annually from the new deal. That is still a fraction of the £1.33 billion the Premier League earns a year from domestic rights.
Andy Holt, the chairman of Accrington Stanley, said he would need to see the details of the DAZN proposal before agreeing to the end of the Saturday 3pm blackout.
“The value of the deal is all-important as of course we don’t want to lose out,” Holt said. “Generally I prefer to see fans in the grounds but if we are all going to get an extra £3 million or whatever then of course we would look at it.”
Holt said there was “definitely an impact” on fans going to games when matches were on TV, particularly away supporters, who can make up 30 per cent of Accrington’s attendances.
DAZN’s move is an attempt to establish itself as a major player in the British market — its main offering until now has been boxing and its deal with Anthony Joshua starts this weekend.
It already holds the domestic rights in Italy for Serie A football, paying €840 million (about £745 million) a season, and last month Shay Segev, its chief executive, said the platform was positioning itself to compete with Sky, BT Sport and Amazon Prime for Premier League packages next year.
“Football is obviously very big in the UK, and EPL is an option on our menu,” Segev said at the time. “If the question is, do we have any ambition to go to this market, the answer is, of course, yes. And it’s not only ambition, it’s a high priority on my list.”
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